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R.T. Finney to retire as Champaign Chief of Police
WILL reports that Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney will retire, effective January 20th. Finney has been Chief of Police since 2003, and presided over the Kiwane Carrington shooting. Finney states on the city of Champaign website:
“It is with great joy and trepidation that I announce my intent to retire...I entered into law enforcement over 30 years ago as a civilian employee and since that time I have enjoyed working in every facet and position that law enforcement has to offer"
Barnstormer Tour in danger of cancellation
As Daytrotter wrote in their weekly email today:
We don't like to claim desperate times, but ticket sales have been hovering at 15% of our projections to break even on the tour and we can't afford to lose our butts on the tour. We know there are a lot of you out there very excited about Barnstormer and you've already bought tickets. We thank you for that. We have a feeling that there are a lot more of you out there excited for Barnstormer who haven't bought tickets yet. If we don't get to a much higher number by next Monday, we have to make a big decision about Barnstormer. Please do what you can to help us make this a success. Thanks all! You're the best. -- Mr. Daytrotter
Daytrotter are currently running a special on their website. The tour stops at Monticello's Kalyx Center — one of the cooler places to see a show ever — on September 2nd. We've heard rumblings of a bigger-name local addition if this goes off, so it would be a bummer if it got canceled.
The Leadership moving to Nashville
As it was, as it is, as it ever will be.
Another quality local band moves on. From The Leadership's Facebook page:
Deron Williams returns to Assembly Hall this weekend
According to ESPN, D-Will shall return to Assembly Hall this weekend for Saturday's Alumnni Game.
Sayeth the All-Star/Gold Medalist/Love of My Life/Fire of My Loins, Deron Williams:
It's going to be good to get back to Champaign [...] I think it's going to be a fun event. It's always good to catch up with the former players and coaches and hang out with the guys and beat them up on the court, too.
No word as to whether he'll be using his time in town to finish his degree, but he will be holding a charity event at the ARC. Visit PointOfHopeFoundation.org to learn more about that.
Now behold, the moment Deron stole my heart forever:
Duke of Uke announce tour, playing Research Park tonight
After years of blowing up audiences around Champaign-Urbana, local rockers the Duke of Uke have announced an East Coast tour which will see them hit up New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.
Catch us if you can tonight! (Friday 7/29) at the OUTSIDE at the Research Park, hosted by Krannert Center. We play from 6:30-7:30 and open for Matuto. Should be a balmy evening of picnics and dancing (just what a summer night should be, right?). This show is FREE.
Also this week, we're going on tour! Check out the schedule below, including our kickoff show on Wed. Aug. 3rd at 6:30, at the Anita Purves Nature Center next to Busey Woods in Urbana
8/3 - Urbana, IL - APNC, UPD (Tour Kickoff)
8/6 - Bethlehem, PA - Musikfest
8/7 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls
8/8 - New York City, NY - Cakeshop
8/10 - Cincinnati, OH - MOTR Pub
8/11 - South Bend, IN - LangLab
8/12 - Urbana, IL - TBA
Bacaro appears to be taking over Carmon’s
Don't have a lot of info on this, so maybe some of you can help fill in the blanks. But Bacaro's Facebook page hinted that they will be opening a Carmon's Bistro soon:
If you would like to follow the progress of our new project, Carmon's Bistro. Please friend our page. We will be posting pictures, menu ideas, and previews to the beverage list.
Perhaps Bacaro food at a lower price point is in the works. That would be pretty rad.
Champaign Taste going on hiatus
After keeping it going for an amazing five years, the local food blog Champaign Taste is going on hiatus for the summer. Though from the official announcement, it sounds like it could be a more permanent break:
Maybe it'll lead right back to this blog, in the fall. Maybe I'll end up doing something else with my spare time, and we'll disband the corporation and send massive disbursement checks to the investors. Hard to say at the moment. But I'll let you know when the summer winds to a close.
As someone who makes minor contributions to an online magazine (definitely not a blog), I am very impressed that Lisa Morgan has kept if up for five years. Burnout is certainly part of the deal. Here's hoping she comes back from the break refreshed and reinvigorated. If not, her site has unarguably changed the way C-U thinks about food and the local restaurant scene.
Grants to bring computers and training to Douglass Branch Library
From a press release issued this morning by the Champaign Public Library:
Two grants will allow the Champaign Public Library to double the number of public computers at its Douglass Branch and offer free classes and individual instruction in basic computer skills, online job searching and more.
A grant of $112,465 from the 2010 Live and Learn Construction Grant Program will fund interior remodeling of the branch, located at 504 E. Grove St., creating an expanded computer room that will accommodate 20 public workstations, twice the number available now.
An additional grant of $26,000 will allow the library to hire an instructor to lead computer classes and offer one-on-one assistance. That grant, awarded by the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, is part of the "Eliminate the Digital Divide" program to improve access to Internet-based education, employment and reading resources, especially for those who are unemployed, low income, seniors or minorities. Both grants were disbursed through the office of Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White.Construction will take place from June 14 through August, and training will start in the fall. During construction, the branch will be without computers and seating for the public, but materials will still be available for checkout, and children's programs and summer reading activities will continue, as space allows.
The need for help with computer technology is great, especially in the current job market, said Douglass Branch Manager Essie Harris. "Many jobs now require you to apply online," Harris said. "If you don't have e-mail or a computer, or if you don't know how to use them, you're at a disadvantage from the start."The library has seen a significant increase in computer use in recent years, Library Director Marsha Grove said. "Providing computer access is now a vital role for public libraries," Grove said. "The Internet is an essential source of information, communication and access to jobs. We're pleased that these grants will help us expand such a critical service."
The "Digital Divide" grant will also allow purchase of software for improving typing skills; a subscription to Career Transitions, an online tool for exploring career options and improving job-hunting skills; a projector and screen to help with group instruction; and promotion of the new computer lab and classes. Computers have been purchased with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and funds from the Champaign Public Library Friends.
The Live and Learn Construction Grant program requires matching local funds for new construction/remodel projects. Grove explained: "It is a matching grant, $112,465 from the library's capital fund, so the total for the renovation is $224,930. The Champaign Public Library has been putting capital money aside for the last several years in anticipation of replacing all carpeting (long overdue) and repainting the entire branch. This grant gives us the opportunity to expand that remodeling to removing a couple of walls and expanding the computer area and replacing worn out furniture. It will be a wonderful remodeled branch library for the Douglass community when completed at the end of this summer."
CCHCC calls 5th and Hill excavation “irresponsible”
As reported by WILL yesterday, Champaign County Health Care Consumers expressed outrage as excavation workers dug outside the vapor tents at the former Illinois Power manufactured gas site (now owned by Ameren) at 5th and Hill in Champaign. The two sides differed on whether air monitoring devices on the site were triggered, with CCHCC claiming that it had, and Ameren denying that claim, saying "no air monitoring equipment recorded anything that would have raised health or safety concerns."
CCHCC Executive Director Claudia Lennhoff sent out the email below this morning:
Yesterday, we at Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) were alerted that Ameren was excavating toxic soil at its Fifth and Hill street toxic site in open air.
We received a call from the Executive Director at the Center for Women in Transition saying that excavation was taking place on Ameren's property, along the fence line that borders the alley behind the Center for Women in Transition, and that toxic detectors had gone off a couple
of times.
CCHCC Community Organizer, Grant Antoline, went to the site and witnessed the excavation and was told that the excavation was taking place in the open air -- rather than under the big vapor tent -- because the fence made it impossible to move the tent over the area being
excavated.
In other words, Ameren did not go to the trouble of moving the fence so that the tent could be moved over the excavation site. The tent is there to protect the surrounding neighborhood from toxic vapors and dust that are released during the excavation of toxic soil.
To be clear -- the soil is not being excavated for fun, or "just in case" -- it is being excavated precisely because it has been found (by Ameren's own environmental tests) to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals.
In fact, a supervisor of the excavation confirmed what CCHCC had been told, and this supervisor told Grant that earlier in the day, the PID's (detectors that react to toxic volatile organic compounds) had gone off a couple of times, indicating that toxic chemicals were indeed being
released into the air. This is the technological equivalent of the "canary in the mine," when the canary falls over dead -- it tells you there is a problem and that you should get out (or in this case, stop the excavation). Later, in talking to the media, the personnel involved in the excavation denied that the PID's had ever gone off.
This excavation activity should have been taking place under the protection of the vapor tent. The only reason it wasn't, was because the fence was in the way. Ameren should have moved the fence, and moved the tent, and conducted the excavation under the tent.
But instead, Ameren chose to proceed in a way that could potentially endanger the health of the neighbors nearby, including the children living just a few feet away at the Center for Women in Transition.
Of course, as always, Ameren and the IL EPA claim that there was no cause for concern.
We at CCHCC and the 5th & Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign consider Ameren's actions, and the IL EPA's lack of oversight, to be irresponsible and dangerous, and a dereliction of the duty to protect the health of the residents.
State bill would curb FOIA rights for “recurrent requesters”
Illinois House Bill 1716, an amendment to the state Freedom of Information Act, has been passed by the state house and senate and awaits Governor Quinn's approval. According to a State Journal-Register story from Monday:
House Bill 1716 allows public bodies to take up to 21 days to respond to FOIA requests by people who have filed more than 50 requests to the same public body, more than 15 requests in a month and more than seven requests in a week.
...
The legislation is needed because some frequent requesters, who still may have good intentions, "bog down local governments and deprive taxpayers and other inquiries of due consideration," said Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, the bill's sponsor.
Those who make requests in excess of that number would be known as "recurrent requesters," and they would also be required to pay fees for retrieval and copying of documents over and above what they're currently charged under the law. News media were exempted from the new rules, and the following definition was offered for the fourth estate:
"News media" means a newspaper or other periodical issued at regular intervals whether in print or electronic format, a news service whether in print or electronic format, a radio station, a television station, a television network, a community antenna television service, or a person or corporation engaged in making news reels or other motion picture news for public showing.
It seems like online media which publish on a regular basis would be included in that definition, but who knows how it will be interpreted — not that we've ever had cause to submit that many FOIAs in that short of a time anyway.
The News-Gazette ran an editorial yesterday expressing concern about the speed with which the amendment was announced and passed.
It's too fast for our taste. But efforts to minimize the state's FOIA are generally well-treated by our public officials, most of whom pay lip service to freedom of information but really don't believe in it very much.
FOIA requests serve as an equalizer for micro-investigative journalists, forcing government bodies to supply information that we'd normally never have the clout to garner. While this bill will have little or no effect on what we do, any weakening of the state FOIA legislation is something that will bear watching.
H/T to Brian Dolinar at UC-IMC for the heads up.
Most Recent SPlog Comments
Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Dollars to waffles says the study session will conclude that there is parking available in the Hill Street Parking Deck.
I can see requiring them to plug meters where they park, but the license fee thing sure sounds like some established business doesn’t like the competition and has an in with the city gummint staff.
This is pretty much ridiculous. However, I would hope that local businesses that aren’t opposed would step up and allow the Crave Truck in their private parking lots. That won’t solve the licensing issue though… (Insert not-so-subtle reference to Snell being behind the grand conspiracy to kill…
How convenient.
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Most Recent Comments
As a liberal conservative, and a person who favors taxes & services ... and also a sense of proportion; I savor the comic potential that still exists in this comments section. I’m pretty sure we can goad more anti-government rhetoric from confirmed progressives and government employees. If…
Did the Crave Truck get a permit to park in city metered spots and city right of way? Or did they just get a permit? The city clerk’s office seems to be a suspect here, but it’s not clear they did anything wrong. Did the Crave Truck…
High-profile whining. AKA Lobbying.
it’s quite choice. looking forward to seeing how it and its patronage grow and develop over the course of the year. could be a neat little ecosystem.
“It was at this point, before he started his business, that working with city employees should’ve raised red flags…” But they didn’t because: 1) The City Clerk’s office originally mis-interpreted the rules, or are indeed re-interpreting them. 2) Champaign’s brick-n-mortar merchants hadn’t yet started whining about The Crave Truck.
Super cool! Excellent track, Excellent band.
Looking forward to trying this place!
I’m in the middle (or the beginning or end, depending on how you look at it) of re-reading Slaughterhouse Five. What a great companion column.
Get yours early. The Rave’s CD will be available at Exile and at The C-U Flea on Saturday. C-U Flea details here: http://www.smilepolitely.com/news/sp_radio_podcast_c-u_flea_arrives/
I don’t know about Gerard and a random police sargeant. My (mild) outrage is based on this: “...he worked closely with Champaign City Clerk Marilyn Banks to make sure he was licensed properly as a transient food peddler, filling out the necessary paperwork and paying a $225…
Local Yocal pretty much nails it here. I suspect there will be merchants who oppose food trucks because they arguably don’t pay their fair share to locate their trucks in high traffic (high rent) areas. The food trucks take away business from rent payers, park in city…
Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
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Super cool! Excellent track, Excellent band.